Fails the Bechdel test
Serenity
2019. Directed by Steven Knight, written by Steven Knight.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
3 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a fishing boat captain leading tours off a tranquil, tropical enclave called Plymouth Island. His quiet life is shattered, however, when his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) tracks him down with a desperate plea for help. She begs Dill to save her - and their young son - from her new, violent husband (Jason Clarke) by taking him out to sea on a fishing excursion, only to throw him to the sharks and leave him for dead. Karen's appearance thrusts Dill back into a life he'd tried to forget, and as he struggles between right and wrong, his world is plunged into a new reality that may not be all that it seems.
- Released
- 25 Jan 2019
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 37 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dill 319 lines, man
- Karen 131 lines, woman
- Zacharias 95 lines, man
- Duke 76 lines, man
- Constance 60 lines, woman
- Miller 56 lines, man
- Jack 36 lines, man
- Samson 27 lines, man
- Lois 22 lines, woman
- Gonzalez 17 lines, man
Full cast, 17 people
- Matthew McConaughey as Baker Dill
- Anne Hathaway as Karen Zariakas
- Jason Clarke as Frank Zariakas
- Diane Lane as Constance
- Djimon Hounsou as Duke
- Jeremy Strong as Reid Miller
- Charlotte Butler as Lois
- David Butler as Jack
- Rafael Sayegh as Patrick
- Michael Richard as Ron
- Robert Hobbs as Ape
- Kenneth Fok as Lionel
- Garion Dowds as Samson
- John Whiteley as Old Wes
- Edeen Bhugeloo as Mike
- Redd Pepper as Plymouth DJ (voice)
- Gunnar Sizemore as Voice of Patrick (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 96
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 32 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 to 8 | 19 | 13 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 10 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 6 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 7 |
| 23 to 24 | 14 | 24 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 4 |
| 27 to 28 | 5 | 7 |
| 29 to 30 | 31 | 15 |
| 31 to 32 | 10 | 6 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 3 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 38 | 2 | 8 |
| 39 to 40 | 19 | 19 |
| 41 to 42 | 1 | 29 |
| 43 to 44 | 12 | 24 |
| 45 to 46 | 8 | 23 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 49 |
| 49 to 50 | 7 | 37 |
| 51 to 52 | 1 | 1 |
| 53 to 54 | 14 | 17 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 3 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 2 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 61 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 4 | 1 |
| 67 to 68 | 7 | 5 |
| 69 to 70 | 9 | 6 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 29 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 27 |
| 75 to 76 | 1 | 26 |
| 77 to 78 | 11 | 6 |
| 79 to 80 | 1 | 15 |
| 81 to 82 | 1 | 8 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 27 |
| 85 to 86 | 5 | 11 |
| 87 to 88 | 13 | 34 |
| 89 to 90 | 8 | 33 |
| 91 to 92 | 2 | 2 |
| 93 to 94 | 0 | 0 |
| 95 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.
213 lines from women, 652 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
3 women and 11 men in the cast. 3 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 50 of 891.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 69 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 26% of the words (2,272), men 74% (6,373). Women have 25% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
35
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Steven Knight (man)
- Written by
- Steven Knight (man)
- Produced by
- Guy Heeley (man), Greg Shapiro (man), Steven Knight (man)
- Shot by
- Jess Hall (man)
- Edited by
- Laura Jennings (woman)
- Music by
- Benjamin Wallfisch (man)
- Production design by
- Andrew McAlpine (man)
- Cast by
- Moonyeenn Lee (woman), Jon Rabaud (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 10 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 45 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Anne Hathaway 36, Diane Lane 54
Men
Jeremy Strong 40, Matthew McConaughey 49, Jason Clarke 49, Djimon Hounsou 54, David Butler 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 58% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $14.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 96 scenes and 891 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
